DESIGN, FABRICATION AND EVALUATION OF LPG RETAIL PUMPING MACHINE FOR SMALL ENTERPRISES

ABSTRACT Liquefied Petroleum Gas is a major cooking fuel in Nigeria.It is sold not only at standard gas plants,but also at retail outlets.Most people prefer and use these LPG retail vendors more compared to standard gas plants for filling their gas cylinders,mostly due to proximity and ease of access.But these retail outlets practice crude,unsafe and inefficient methods of filling gas cylinders,that are both more dangerous and less profitable for their business.Hence the goal of this project was to design,fabricate,and evaluate a more efficient &safer means of gas transfer for LPG retail outlets:an LPG Pumping Machine. This design and fabrication was done based on engineering fluid principles and engineering standards for construction of LPG pumps,and by comparing the time taken to fill cylinders for both the conventional method and the LPG pumping machine.The time taken to fill various control cylinders(3kg,5kg,6kg,10kg and 12.5kg)using both the conventional method and the pumping machine was measured,and the results showed the LPG pump is 5.4 times faster than the conventional method for filling on LPG cylinders,with an efficiency of 18.51%.It was also shown to be a lot safer too,considering the fireproof materials used and the new method of transferring the gas which doesn't do any damage to the PRV(Pressure Release Valve).Hence the LPG pumping machine was shown to be a more efficient,safer and profitable means of LPG transfer both for retail vendors and customers.And with a few improvements,including a pressure gauge to actively measure the pump's pressure,and more LPG p:oactiveness the side of the government,the machine can be made more mainstream and available for general public use.